Unlike Z filler, for example, the episodes of Super actually tie into things in later arcs. Theyāre inherently part of continuity, not padding slapped in the middle of it, not episodes you can necessarily just cut out; most of them actually seed things for later that are important to the plot and character arcs.
They also provide some lovely characterization and development for the supporting characters (which according to the manga is anyone not named Goku or Vegeta) that Toyotaro wouldnāt even dream of bothering with. And many, many times, itās done beautifully.
I should probably also add that, unlike originally, the anime is actually the lead platform this time. So thereās that.
They were humans to start. Converted to cyborgs and called androids due to wonky translations.
But they were awoken when Trunks was an infant and looked like teenagers (as we see in the primary timeline) and Trunks, having traveled 20 years into the past to warn Goku about them, he describes them as young teenagers and warns to not be deceived by their youthful appearances bc they are killers. Meaning, after 20 years of activity, while Trunks is fighting them in the future, they are still physically teenagers and that is how he -a teenager himself- describes them.
Meaning they do not age.
Meaning they are teenagers.
Emotionally they might age.
Intellectually they might age.
Physically is canon that they do not.
In History of Trunks, tho non-canon, 18 is angered when Trunks cuts her hair bc āthat doesnāt grow back, you punkā implying they donāt physically change at all. But that special isnāt canon, and if 18 can carry a child in her womb, Iām going to assume she can grow hair.
But whatever process that made her a cyborg, interferes with her ability to age.
Thatās why I find KrillinX18 gross. Not only is it just a random crack ship that comes out of no where (develop a crush on the woman who literally just tried to murder you and your friends on the side of the highway bc she kissed you on the cheek? Ok?) but itās a pairing of what essentially is a grown man with his sex-bot GF.
I find that icky.
Finally someone who shares the same opinion as I do about Krillin/18
Hi there. Iām here to explain to you why, canonically, none of this is a valid complaint.
1. The Androids are described asĀ āyoungā. Thatās it. If theyāre teens, theyāre in their late teens. So idk where this idea to depict them asĀ āyoung teensā comes from, as though theyāre 15 years of age.
2. You admit that, in the first place, your basis for this idea is non-canon. Youāre sourcing a TV special as your reason for claiming the Androids never age, or regrow hair, or etc. On top of that, theĀ āthat doesnāt grow backā line was dub only. But FURTHER than thisā¦
2. The Androids do canonically age. Certainly mentally, maturity-wise. But also physically.
āBy the way, though they donāt need to eat, they do need to hydrate. Also, their cells deteriorate slowly, so they age slowly too.
ā – Akira Toriyama,Ā Q&AĀ Section,Ā Dragon Ball Full Color: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume #06 (02 May 2014)
17 and 18 do, in fact, age. They just do so more slowly, at least physically. So thatās moot.
But to further go in a bit here: Krillin and 18ā²s relationship does not, in fact, come out ofĀ ānowhereā. Nor is it aĀ ācrack shipā if it is, in fact, canon. But Iām going to show you why itās not.
Their relationship is actually seeded better than most any in this series, and hinted at throughout the entire arc. Yes, Krillin is infatuated with her because of a kiss. But he also notices something Kami himself noted; namely, they never actually attacked or killed anyone. They deliberately spared them all, even Vegeta, despite him picking the fight with them. In fact, they didnāt even want a fight at all; the sole reason they were even planning to help 16 with his mission to kill Goku was just to get it over with so the three of them could get on with their lives and do whatever they wanted.
But the thing is, Krillin doesnāt want to just help her. He actively seeks to help both 16ā¦
ā¦and 17 too.
And why does he do that again?
So to reiterate: Yes, heās infatuated with her. But he did all this for her without expecting a single thing to come of it. He was sure that someone like her had to have a boyfriend, that the guy she was with was probably it, and he accepted the probability there couldnāt ever be anything between them. Hell, he made the wish there without even knowing she was around.
This, however, does have an affect on her, knowing that he was willing to help them like that without expecting any sort of compensation or gratitude for it. And she is the one who seeks himĀ out, and they become friends, until his kind-hearted and straightforward, honest nature stole her heart, as explained by Toriyama himself.
How did Kuririn and No. 18 end up getting married? āThere was a lot that happened during those seven years. For No. 18, Kuririn was a type of person sheād never met before: earnest and straightforward. Little by little, she was drawn in by that. In my mind, their love story is pretty well-establishedā¦ ā -Akira Toriyama,Ā āAkira Toriyama Brings You: Secret Stories of the Dragon Ball Charactersā, Daizenshuu Vol. 7 (1995)
So no, their relationship does notĀ ācome out of nowhereā, itās not a crack ship, and it is, in fact, a healthy, loving, realistic relationship.Ā
With not even a teensy trace of āickyā.
OH YEAH Thereās also thatĀ āOfficial Age Chartā that actually says 18 and 17 are anywhere from 1 to 6 years OLDER than Krillin, soā¦ make of that what you will.
You wanna know how you know character memes are often taken more seriously than the actual series in this fandom?
There are people who literally think Goku killed himself intentionally vs Cell.
There are people who legitimately think Vegeta was a good guy and great parent since Trunks was born.
There are people who think Goku has no technique and cannot strategize on the battlefield and relies solely on brute force to win.
There are people who not only think Krillin is weaker than Roshi and Yamcha, or even only as strong as Mr. Satan, but they actually think Krillin knowing the Kamehameha in Super is either an asspull or the first time he ever learned to use it.
There are people who still think Vegeta never wanted to be bad, and that Vegetaās plan to kill Freeza was about saving the galaxy from his tyrannical reign.
There are still people who think Yamcha was an abusive boyfriend while ignoring Young Bulmaās pattern of technicallyĀ āabusiveā behavior toward him & her friends.
There are still people who think Piccolo raised Gohan (and even Goten), even doing so while Goku was still around, despite Piccolo only having been alone with Gohan for six months and not seeing him too often after Cell.
There are still people who think 18 wasĀ ātrappedā into a relationship because she was guilt tripped by KrillinĀ āsaving herā.
There are still people who think Gohan wanted to be a warrior but Chi-Chi stopped him from becoming one & was an abusive parent.
I could go on but sweet Jesus, itās bad. And when you show them things from the series itself, they reject it and say theyĀ ādonāt agreeā, orĀ āthatās not the version I grew up with so it doesnāt countā or other such nonsense.
Itās freakinā nutso.
These may not come up as often but I sure as hell see them SO (strap in babes this is a doozy).
If these donāt say āI think one or two mangled character traits are accurate portrayals of these fleshed out individualsā I donāt know what does:
There are people who think that Goku intentionally held back against Cell so Gohan would have to fight (fucking why, God only knows, ah yes Son Goku always at it for the lolz).
Following that, there are people who genuinely believe Goku was really happy that Gohan had to get his ass kicked by Cell (because they keep confusing Goku saying āGohan is our only hopeā with him saying āGohan is our only hope and Iām fucking PUMPED about it!ā. And I mean, they think he was freaking ecstatic about it, like watching his preteen son get beat down was the highlight of his day. Itās really weird.
There are fuckers people that believe that āBattle-Crazy Gokuā shit in general, the idea that a majority, if not all of the fights in Z are because Goku sought them out/purposely escalated the situation in some way. Of course that couldnāt be farther from the truth, 9/10 of the major conflicts are villains seeking revenge for him stopping their evil deeds (if not Goku being totally unrelated to the initial conflict entirely). Hell, one entire arc is because of one dude! I canāt believe Iām saying that Son Goku is a literal sufferer of Victim Blaming, but here we are.
Following that, there are people who blame both Friezaās survival on Namek and his attempt to attack Earth on Goku, because heĀ āspared himā (wrong, he tried to spare him. And then F went backstabby and Goku blew him up. When will these people start fact checking the answer is never!).
There are people who think that Goku was happy to stay dead, for a shit ton of dumb reasons. This normally comes about when people misinterpret the scene at the Lookout right after he dies w/ Cell. He said something along the lines of āDonāt worry about me [staying in Otherworld], thereās lots of strong fighters here!ā, and douchenozzles with zero perception took it as him literally saying that he was happy to leave everyone and putz around fighting- y’know, instead of what it actually was: him comforting his soon to be grieving friends and familyĀ (including his child who is quite clearly blaming himself for his dadās death) by letting them know heād be okayĀ (this one always bothered me the most tbh, donāt sully his sacrifice and compassion you absolute FUCKS).
There are people who still think 18 doesnāt love Krillin/ is āusing himā (for WHAT)
There are, apparently, people who believe Goku is somehow forcing Chi Chi to be with him/ be faithful after he dies. Yes, ultra-traditional Chi Chi is being forced to not date after her husband dies. Forced by her DEAD HUSBAND from beyond the grave. Right.Ā
(I only saw this one in detail once, and vaguely a few other times, but it was so wild that I have to mention it)
And yeah, there are people who honestly think Yamcha was the worst offender in their tumultuous relationship and not Bulma, who does some really fucked up shit you guys, come on nowĀ (I wrote a bit about it in my Yeah, no, Yamcha didnāt fucking cheatĀ reblog, TL;DR Teen/Verging on Young Adult Bulma was an absolute menace)
Ā And also YEAH, there are people that actually think Vegeta gave a shit about Trunks pre-Buu, even thoughĀ
Trunks had been able to go SS for God knows how long before Veggie even found outĀ
The ānever hugā thingĀ
The āproud, battle seasoned warrior punches an 8yo in the face because heās startledā thing
TheĀ ādown with him dying more than onceā thing
My weakass speculations as to how often Trunks and Veggie were even in the same room based on the aforementioned Trunks goes SS scene (spoiler: not often)
And of course: There are people who still, to this day, hold the belief that DBZA, the parody, ātells the story betterāā¦ than the actual story.Ā
I donāt even know how to end this post other thanĀ āI hate this goddamn fanbaseā
Ah, theĀ āGoku could have beaten Cellā bit? Thatās thanks to the Other world Tournament filler. He was evenly matched with Pikkon, who essentially one-shotted Cell AND Freeza AND the Ginyu Force all at once, ergo Goku being able to match him MUST mean he could have easily beaten Cell.
Itās one of the main things I point out when people claim Filler never changed or affected anything in the series or how people view these characters.
On that Goku holding back against Cell thing, didnāt Goku HIMSELF say that he was going all out, or was that a dub only mis-translation?
Goku both explicitly says he was trying his hardest and that he knew that Gohan had gotten so much stronger during their time in the ROSAT it looked to him like they were taking it easy.
And Cell was still a bit stronger than Gohan at this point. Hence why Goku knew Gohan finally pushing past the limits of a Super Saiyan was literally their only hope.
š„ There is beauty in destructionš„ 